CHIEF JUSTICE EARL WARREN - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 06/03/1938 - HFSID 283757

EARL WARREN
He signed this typed letter in 1938, responding to condolences following the brutal and unsolved murder of his father three weeks before.
Typed Letter signed: "Earl Warren", 1 page, 7 ¼ x 10 ½. Court House, Oakland, California, 1938 June 3. On his personal letterhead to Major N. W. Armstrong in the same building. In full: "Your message of sympathy was a great comfort to us, and we now realize what the loving kindness of friends can mean in an hour of sorrow. Sincerely".  Accompanied by unsigned etching print. Warren (1891-1974) served as Attorney General of California (1938-1942), and then as Governor (1942-1953). Ironically, Warren as a young district attorney had a "tough on crime" reputation, using methods of investigation and interrogation which the Warren Court would later prohibit.As Governor, he was the principal mover behind the internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II.  Warren was the Republican nominee for Vice President in 1948, running with Thomas E. Dewey in the close contest won by Harry Truman. Nominated by Eisenhower and confirmed as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1954, Warren was immediately faced with the historic cases of Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. He worked to achieve unanimous decisions in favor of school desegregation "with all deliberate speed." The Warren Court was controversial for decisions which defined broadly the range of constitutionally protected civil rights and civil liberties. Warren retired in 1968. Earl Warren's father, Methias Warren, a former railroad inspector turned landlord, was brutally bludgeoned to death with a pipe in his Bakersfield, California home on May 15, 1938. The murderer left a trail of scattered rent receipts as he fled the scene, but the murder was never solved. Major N. W. Armstrong was exhibit director for Alameda County, California. Two horizontal letter folds not affecting text or signature. Diagonal creases touching text. Otherwise, fine condition.